


Man of the Year: interview

by phoebesmum



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-04
Updated: 2009-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-04 04:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoebesmum/pseuds/phoebesmum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan is interviewed for <i>InStyle</i> magazine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man of the Year: interview

**Author's Note:**

> Written July 2007 as part of a fic project for laylee - she wrote the fic and the interview questions, I wrote the answers. The completed result can be found at laylee's LiveJournal (_Man of the Year_): http://laylee.livejournal.com/451521.html.

[For a man who spends a great deal of his working life in a suit, it comes as no surprise to learn that, when not appearing alongside Casey McCall as co-anchor of _Sports Night_ on QVN, Dan Rydell tends to favour the dressed-down approach of jeans and teeshirts. It's not that he doesn't appreciate a well-cut lapel, and he has been known to cut quite the dashing figure as a well-known man about New York, it's just that the 36-year-old journalist and TV personality still feels more at home in Abercrombie and Fitch than he does Armani. "I'm all for dressing up and creating a good impression," he says, "But you've got to be comfortable, you know?"]

**How would you describe your current style?** Truthfully, I'm not really sure I have one. I guess if you want to put it in a nutshell, the word would be 'basic'. I'm a casual kind of guy, I pretty much stick to jeans and teeshirts. I'm not about designer style – if it's comfortable and it fits, I'm happy. As a matter of fact, we get a lot of free stuff sent to us, promos – teeshirts mostly, jackets, even training shoes – which is great, you know? It saves on time and money and making a decision, so what's not to like? I've got to say, no-one's ever sent us socks, we still have to buy those … I'm gonna get sent socks now, aren't I? Formalwear? Formalwear, I'm pretty traditional, I go to my grandfather's tailor, always have done – I think it's still the same guy, as a matter of fact, he's pretty much older than god, and he's a real craftsman. My grandfather was a real class act. He wasn't flashy, you never even noticed what he was wearing, but you noticed _him_, even when I was a kid I could see how he stood out from the crowd. I used to want to be like that. I think I've still got a long way to go.

**How much of a say do you get about what you wear on air?** You've got to be kidding me. I am totally in the hands of our wardrobe people, and they'll kill me if I don't say their names: Monica Brazelton, who started out as an assistant and has worked her way up the ladder through skill, taste, expertise, and sheer, ruthless, animal cunning, and Donald Hetheridge, who joined us about a year ago. Luckily for me, they're really _good_ hands, and that means that I get to look good too. We went through kind of a rough patch in the early days – this was back when it was Maureen and Joseph, who were also very fine people, but there was this one time when they kept putting me in this brown jacket that … um, let's just say, if it'd had leather patches on the elbows, you wouldn't have been surprised, and I was too scared to tell them I hated it – the only thing worse than getting Wardrobe pissed at you is getting Makeup pissed at you – but it turned out it was just a total communication breakdown, as a matter of fact _everyone_ hated it and no-one wanted to be the one to say. We never did find out how it got in there. To tell the truth, there've been a few neckties I … I won't say they were bad, and I guess they worked on the air – like I say, these people know what they're doing – but I wouldn't wear them outside the studio. Not that I'd get a chance, we're not supposed to take our wardrobe home. Which is kind of a shame, because I've got a couple of really sharp suits hanging up backstage. If I could look as cool off the air as apparently I do on, I'd be a happy man.

Why? I don't know, they probably think we'd spill stuff on ourselves. They're probably right.

**Were you cool as a kid?** I really wasn't. I would love to lie to you and say yes, yes, I was cool from the day I grew out of diapers – I'm pretty sure nobody could be cool in diapers, and I apologise to any cool diaper-wearers out there – but my mom has photographic evidence, and she's going to be reading this, so … I was kind of a runt, to tell you the truth, short and skinny and geeky … you know, the Chess Club threw me out 'cause they said I was bad for their image … You're not going to make me say any more about this, are you? It was a painful time for me, just painful. Uh-huh. Okay, two words then. Bangs. And braces. Does that paint a picture? Good. Next question?

**And your biggest fashion faux-pas would be?** I'm sorry I asked! Well, I grew up in the '80s, so where do I begin? I can tell you, hand on heart, that I did _not_ have a Flock of Seagulls hairstyle – yeah, there was a kid in my class who did, but he came to school in velvet pants and a pirate shirt too, so I'll leave the rest of that story to your imagination. There was a lot of product going on, though. In fact, I may bear some responsibility for depleting the ozone layer so, well, sorry 'bout that. Biggest fashion faux-pas … I'd have to say, it was probably stone-washed denim. If it got any worse than that, then I guess I must've wiped it from my mind. Yeah, again, this article's gonna come out, and my mom'll be there with the photos: "How can you have forgotten the time you - ?!"

**How do you spend your downtime?** Downtime? I catch up on my sleep! Besides that? Well, I spend a couple hours in the gym three times a week, I play some squash, I go running, cycling. I like to swim. There's a bunch of us guys, we like to get together, play ball in the park whenever we can. Sailing. Sailing's my big thing, I've been around boats my whole life, so any chance I get, I like to get down to the water. I've got a half-share in a yacht, just a tiny thing – 8.5 metres. She's just a daysailer, that's all I need, really, I'm not planning any round-the-world voyages at this stage in my career, but she's beautiful, handles like a dream. You want to see pictures … no, you probably don't. Yeah, I've got a couple in my wallet … M'm, I suppose that _is_ a little sad. Let's change the subject. I'm not all about sports, I want to clarify that. I love sports, but it's important not to be one-dimensional. I love music probably as much as I love sports, maybe even more, I just don't think I'd've ever cut it as a VJ – plus the kind of music I'm into, you don't get it on, you know, MTV, whatever. So, I spend a lot of time scouting for vintage vinyl, and sounding out new bands. Plus I read a lot, I go out – restaurants, bars, clubs, gigs, movies, the theatre. We're in New York, you know, and there's so much, so _much_ going on, so much to see, all that art and culture and history and, and just _people_, you can never catch everything, see everything, experience everything, there's never enough time to do it all. I just try to squeeze in as much as I can, as often as I can. Which is maybe why some days I really _do_ have to spend my downtime asleep!

**What was the best item of clothing you've ever bought?** This is, like, the farthest thing from cool in the entire history of the world or, in fact, the entire history of time and space, Big Bang to infinity. The best item of clothing I ever bought was this big down jacket from LL Bean. You know that really cold winter we had a while back? I was warm and cosy from start to finish, thank you very much. I might've looked like the Michelin Man, but that's a small price to pay.

**What wouldn't you spend money on?** Jewellery. It's just not my thing. Most of the time I don't even wear a watch – nothing. When I was in college – maybe we should file this under the 'faux pas' question – back then I had this necklace I used to wear all the time, a couple of beads on a leather thong – yes, of course, a girlfriend gave it to me, that kind of goes without saying doesn't it? – but after it snapped, that was it for me and jewellery. Also for me and the girlfriend, but that's a whole different story. I don't buy jewellery for _me_, I guess I should say. I've bought it for other people. Who? Well … my mom, for one thing.

**How much do you love sports?** Is that a trick question? It's the pinnacle of human physical achievement; it's as close to bodily perfection as we get. It's all about coordination, muscle and hands and brain. It's about rising to a challenge; it's about teamwork, and it's about competition – either/or, or both together, doesn't matter. Even if your only competitor is yourself, there's still the urge to go one stage beyond your last personal best, and then to keep on going. It's beautiful to watch, like poetry in motion, and, at the same time, there's the other side of it, the more … more primal side, where you're yelling and screaming and baying for blood. And then, you know, when it's all over, you shake the other guy by the hand, and you go out for drinks together, and you can be the best of friends – because it's sports, it's a game, it's all about competing, but you still admire the guy you're up against.

I know, that's kind of idealistic. Every branch of sports has its dirty tricks and its nasty little secrets – you get bribery, you get doping, you get athletes that're not much better than thugs, and managers and agents who're worse still – but that's the minority, and it's just like the outer skin. You peel it away, and, at its heart, you still have that, that purity, that magic.

I like to think so, anyhow.

***


End file.
